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Department of Corrections Provides Update to the Investigation at Union Correctional Institution

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.- As part of an ongoing investigation into use of force incidents at Union Correctional Institution that resulted in serious injuries to inmates, the Department of Corrections has placed additional correctional staff members on administrative leave. As stated in a press release at the press conference held last Friday, the Department’s Office of the Inspector General had already identified several incidents involving use of force that resulted in serious injuries to inmates and had initiated investigations into those incidents. Based on preliminary information developed by the Inspector General’s Office, Secretary Kenneth Tucker requested that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement assume the lead investigative role in those investigations. At this point, the Department has turned over to the FDLE investigations relating to use of force involving the following inmates:

The inmates involved are Frank Smith, (inmate number 424141, deceased), Rudolph Rowe (inmate number V19408), Leslie Smith, (inmate number 009996), Christopher Arnold, (inmate number R68407), Ronnie Daniels, (intra-state compact from Kentucky) and Willie Knight, (inmate number 326334).
The Department has also placed the following employees on administrative leave pending the investigations in addition to those announced on Friday:

Officer Jermaine Corley

Officer Clinton Hodges

Officer Derrick Searcy

Officer Joshua Bostic

Officer Robert Hill

Captain Wilfred Dean Ellis

At this point, that is a total of 11 employees on administrative leave with pay.

Again, this is an active criminal investigation and information related to it may be protected from public records requests. After today, (October 8, 2012) please direct all questions to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement at (850) 410-7001.

As Florida's largest state agency, the Department of Corrections employs more than 25,000 members statewide, oversees more than 100,000 inmates and supervises nearly 150,000 offenders in the community.